Illini Basketball 2021-2022

[jordansbulls]

Looks like Illini are ranked either 10th with coaches rankings and 11th with AP rankings.

2023-24 Men's College Basketball Rankings - ESPN

Find the 2023-24 NCAAM rankings on ESPN, including the Coaches and AP poll for the top 25 NCAAM teams.

www.espn.com

 

[PNWIllini]

It won’t blip your radar but University of Washington hired a new coach the same year as Underwood and I have a few UW fans out here so the comparisons have been easy to make. Hopkins had the UW in the NCAA his second season (Pac-12 Coach of the Year!) here before falling off a cliff year 3 and 4. Then they lost to the NIU Huskies in an all Huskies match last night, living and dying by the 2-3 zone as Northern pumped in 12 of 23 from beyond the arc.

considering after 2 seasons of Underwood I was watching UW win an NCAA game .. how the places have changed. UW has no idea what its doing on offense.

Hopkins is reminding me of Groce. Good coach terrible recruiter.

meanwhile Boeheim still keeps winning at Syracuse, Hopkins’ one-time heir-apparent job before he got impatient and took the UW job.

then theres the contrast with Josh Whitman and the U of Washington athletic director. But we’ll save that mess for another day. Suffice to say for maybe the first time in about 15 years the future for Illinois revenue sports is brighter. They are having problems in Seattle.

Go Illini.

 

[Tacomallini]

It won’t blip your radar but University of Washington hired a new coach the same year as Underwood and I have a few UW fans out here so the comparisons have been easy to make. Hopkins had the UW in the NCAA his second season (Pac-12 Coach of the Year!) here before falling off a cliff year 3 and 4. Then they lost to the NIU Huskies in an all Huskies match last night, living and dying by the 2-3 zone as Northern pumped in 12 of 23 from beyond the arc.

considering after 2 seasons of Underwood I was watching UW win an NCAA game .. how the places have changed. UW has no idea what its doing on offense.

Hopkins is reminding me of Groce. Good coach terrible recruiter.

meanwhile Boeheim still keeps winning at Syracuse, Hopkins’ one-time heir-apparent job before he got impatient and took the UW job.

then theres the contrast with Josh Whitman and the U of Washington athletic director. But we’ll save that mess for another day. Suffice to say for maybe the first time in about 15 years the future for Illinois revenue sports is brighter. They are having problems in Seattle.

Go Illini.

UW ended Dee Brown’s and James Augustine’s Illini careers in the 2006 NCAA tournament. I still hold a grudge.

 

[mydosburns]

UW ended Dee Brown’s and James Augustine’s Illini careers in the 2006 NCAA tournament. I still hold a grudge.

Correction: Brandon Roy ended it. He was unstoppable

 

[Baskins Tiger]

I cant wait to see this team full go in 3 games, watching these bulls games has me so hyped thinking Curbelo definitely can Be Lonzo

 

[IllinoisssssssVarsity]

I cant wait to see this team full go in 3 games, watching these bulls games has me so hyped thinking Curbelo definitely can Be Lonzo

Who’s Ayo?

 

[Baskins Tiger]

Who’s Ayo?

Slim Jake

 

[PNWIllini]

UW ended Dee Brown’s and James Augustine’s Illini careers in the 2006 NCAA tournament. I still hold a grudge.

Well, you should be happy with UW this year for revenge purposes . I don’t think Hopkins has any idea what to do with their roster. KP thinks they’ll win 12 games.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

Ya know, I have seen it posted that we have a relatively weak non-conference schedule - only a potential top 25 matchup with #16 Arkansas, with Arizona showing real promise to sneak into the top 25 before we play them - but I was looking around at other Big Ten teams' schedules, and at least ours is interesting from a fan perspective! These are what I would consider the three "coolest" games I would look forward to the most if I were a fan of each B1G team:

ILL: vs. #16 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO, potential), vs. Arizona, vs. Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
IND: at Syracuse (B1G/ACC), vs. Notre Dame (Indianapolis, IN) ... vs. St. John's??
IOWA: at #25 Virginia (B1G/ACC), at Iowa State ... vs. Utah State (Sioux Falls, SD)??
UMD: vs. Louisville (Nassau, BAH, potential), vs. Florida (New York, NY), vs. Virginia Tech (B1G/ACC)
MICH: at #19 North Carolina (B1G/ACC), vs. UNLV (Las Vegas, NV), vs. Arizona (Las Vegas, NV, potential)
MSU: vs. #3 Kansas (New York, NY), vs. #22 Auburn (Nassau, BAH, potential), vs. Louisville (B1G/ACC)
MINN: at Pitt (B1G/ACC), at Mississippi State ... vs. Western Kentucky (Asheville, NC)??
NEB: vs. #22 Auburn (Atlanta, GA), at NC State (B1G/ACC) ... vs. Creighton??
NU: vs. #25 Virginia (Newark, NJ, potential), vs. Providence (Newark, NJ), at Wake Forest (B1G/ACC)
OSU: vs. #9 Duke (B1G/ACC), vs. #10 Kentucky (Las Vegas, NV), vs. Florida (Fort Myers, FL, potential)
PSU: vs. LSU (Niceville, FL), vs. Miami (FL) (B1G/ACC), vs. Wake Forest (Niceville, FL, potential)
PUR: vs. #4 Villanova (Uncasville, CT, potential), vs. #19 North Carolina (Uncasville, CT), vs. #20 Florida State (B1G/ACC)
RUT: at Seton Hall, vs. Clemson (B1G/ACC) ... at DePaul??
WISC: vs. #15 Houston (Las Vegas, NV, potential), vs. Texas A&M (Las Vegas, NV), vs. Marquette

I think exciting non-conference schedules are honestly getting harder to schedule, and when you consider some of the "names" we have on our schedule who are kind of down right now (Notre Dame, Marquette, Arizona, Missouri, Cincinnati, etc.), ours really isn't that bad.

 

[logjam]

Ya know, I have seen it posted that we have a relatively weak non-conference schedule - only a potential top 25 matchup with #16 Arkansas, with Arizona showing real promise to sneak into the top 25 before we play them - but I was looking around at other Big Ten teams' schedules, and at least ours is interesting from a fan perspective! These are what I would consider the three "coolest" games I would look forward to the most if I were a fan of each B1G team:

ILL: vs. #16 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO, potential), vs. Arizona, vs. Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
IND: at Syracuse (B1G/ACC), vs. Notre Dame (Indianapolis, IN) ... vs. St. John's??
IOWA: at #25 Virginia (B1G/ACC), at Iowa State ... vs. Utah State (Sioux Falls, SD)??
UMD: vs. Louisville (Nassau, BAH, potential), vs. Florida (New York, NY), vs. Virginia Tech (B1G/ACC)
MICH: at #19 North Carolina (B1G/ACC), vs. UNLV (Las Vegas, NV), vs. Arizona (Las Vegas, NV, potential)
MSU: vs. #3 Kansas (New York, NY), vs. #22 Auburn (Nassau, BAH, potential), vs. Louisville (B1G/ACC)
MINN: at Pitt (B1G/ACC), at Mississippi State ... vs. Western Kentucky (Asheville, NC)??
NEB: vs. #22 Auburn (Atlanta, GA), at NC State (B1G/ACC) ... vs. Creighton??
NU: vs. #25 Virginia (Newark, NJ, potential), vs. Providence (Newark, NJ), at Wake Forest (B1G/ACC)
OSU: vs. #9 Duke (B1G/ACC), vs. #10 Kentucky (Las Vegas, NV), vs. Florida (Fort Myers, FL, potential)
PSU: vs. LSU (Niceville, FL), vs. Miami (FL) (B1G/ACC), vs. Wake Forest (Niceville, FL, potential)
PUR: vs. #4 Villanova (Uncasville, CT, potential), vs. #19 North Carolina (Uncasville, CT), vs. #20 Florida State (B1G/ACC)
RUT: at Seton Hall, vs. Clemson (B1G/ACC) ... at DePaul??
WISC: vs. #15 Houston (Las Vegas, NV, potential), vs. Texas A&M (Las Vegas, NV), vs. Marquette

I think exciting non-conference schedules are honestly getting harder to schedule, and when you consider some of the "names" we have on our schedule who are kind of down right now (Notre Dame, Marquette, Arizona, Missouri, Cincinnati, etc.), ours really isn't that bad.

We owe Arizona a butt whomping...they gave us one the last time.

 

[Tacomallini]

Well, you should be happy with UW this year for revenge purposes . I don’t think Hopkins has any idea what to do with their roster. KP thinks they’ll win 12 games.

Nah, I don’t hate UW. They were horrible last year and were awful in Romar’s last year too. What I do want though is to watch UI beat them down next time they play. That would be swell.

 

[IllinoisssssssVarsity]

Well, you should be happy with UW this year for revenge purposes . I don’t think Hopkins has any idea what to do with their roster. KP thinks they’ll win 12 games.

That game made me hate the refs more than Washington.

I still remember the swings in the game of how competitive we were vs how quickly they were whistling fouls on us. Especially in the aftermath of that North Carolina BS the year before.

 

[sacraig]

It won’t blip your radar but University of Washington hired a new coach the same year as Underwood and I have a few UW fans out here so the comparisons have been easy to make. Hopkins had the UW in the NCAA his second season (Pac-12 Coach of the Year!) here before falling off a cliff year 3 and 4. Then they lost to the NIU Huskies in an all Huskies match last night, living and dying by the 2-3 zone as Northern pumped in 12 of 23 from beyond the arc.

considering after 2 seasons of Underwood I was watching UW win an NCAA game .. how the places have changed. UW has no idea what its doing on offense.

Hopkins is reminding me of Groce. Good coach terrible recruiter.

meanwhile Boeheim still keeps winning at Syracuse, Hopkins’ one-time heir-apparent job before he got impatient and took the UW job.

then theres the contrast with Josh Whitman and the U of Washington athletic director. But we’ll save that mess for another day. Suffice to say for maybe the first time in about 15 years the future for Illinois revenue sports is brighter. They are having problems in Seattle.

Go Illini.

Groce was NOT a good coach or a terrible recruiter. Are you thinking of Weber?

 

[BlueLeader]

Ya know, I have seen it posted that we have a relatively weak non-conference schedule - only a potential top 25 matchup with #16 Arkansas, with Arizona showing real promise to sneak into the top 25 before we play them - but I was looking around at other Big Ten teams' schedules, and at least ours is interesting from a fan perspective! These are what I would consider the three "coolest" games I would look forward to the most if I were a fan of each B1G team:

ILL: vs. #16 Arkansas (Kansas City, MO, potential), vs. Arizona, vs. Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
IND: at Syracuse (B1G/ACC), vs. Notre Dame (Indianapolis, IN) ... vs. St. John's??
IOWA: at #25 Virginia (B1G/ACC), at Iowa State ... vs. Utah State (Sioux Falls, SD)??
UMD: vs. Louisville (Nassau, BAH, potential), vs. Florida (New York, NY), vs. Virginia Tech (B1G/ACC)
MICH: at #19 North Carolina (B1G/ACC), vs. UNLV (Las Vegas, NV), vs. Arizona (Las Vegas, NV, potential)
MSU: vs. #3 Kansas (New York, NY), vs. #22 Auburn (Nassau, BAH, potential), vs. Louisville (B1G/ACC)
MINN: at Pitt (B1G/ACC), at Mississippi State ... vs. Western Kentucky (Asheville, NC)??
NEB: vs. #22 Auburn (Atlanta, GA), at NC State (B1G/ACC) ... vs. Creighton??
NU: vs. #25 Virginia (Newark, NJ, potential), vs. Providence (Newark, NJ), at Wake Forest (B1G/ACC)
OSU: vs. #9 Duke (B1G/ACC), vs. #10 Kentucky (Las Vegas, NV), vs. Florida (Fort Myers, FL, potential)
PSU: vs. LSU (Niceville, FL), vs. Miami (FL) (B1G/ACC), vs. Wake Forest (Niceville, FL, potential)
PUR: vs. #4 Villanova (Uncasville, CT, potential), vs. #19 North Carolina (Uncasville, CT), vs. #20 Florida State (B1G/ACC)
RUT: at Seton Hall, vs. Clemson (B1G/ACC) ... at DePaul??
WISC: vs. #15 Houston (Las Vegas, NV, potential), vs. Texas A&M (Las Vegas, NV), vs. Marquette

I think exciting non-conference schedules are honestly getting harder to schedule, and when you consider some of the "names" we have on our schedule who are kind of down right now (Notre Dame, Marquette, Arizona, Missouri, Cincinnati, etc.), ours really isn't that bad.

OSU and Purdue have pretty exciting non cons

 

[BretMyBeachHouse]

OSU and Purdue have pretty exciting non cons

I'm amazed at the weakness of the ACC this year. It would be a major embarassment to lose the ACC/B1G challenge. I'm not sure I've seen it this lopsided.

 

[Calvin]

Correction: Brandon Roy ended it. He was unstoppable

Truth. And coincidentally, that game was what got me so excited about landing Ayo. Having a guy with that size who can get into the lane often and aggressively is such an advantage. It was awesome to be on the right side of that problem for several seasons.

On the plus side, I think Underwood values aggressiveness, so we'll always go after guys that aren't afraid to drive, but Ayo was (cough, cough) elite!

 

[Qdennis]

Correction: Brandon Roy ended it. He was unstoppable

Correction the refs ended it !!! If my memory serves me correctly UW shot damn near 50 free-throws !!!

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

OSU and Purdue have pretty exciting non cons

True, pretty jealous of theirs. However, ours is WAY better than most B1G teams, IMO. When you consider that an ideal/“normal” non-conference schedule for a good Illini program should always have the following at a minimum…

1) Preseason tournament vs. Power 5 teams
2) Big Ten/ACC Challenge opponent
3) Missouri rivalry game in St. Louis
4) (Hopefully) Power 5 team at the United Center

… we are pretty lucky! Really need to get the UC game back, IMO. I’m sure it was hard after COVID, but this year was the ideal time.

 

[armo859]

We owe Arizona a butt whomping...they gave us one the last time.

I remember that game every time I see the name Nico Mannion. Wow. That game was only 2 years ago. Feels like a different era.

Honestly I had to look up who is coaching Arizona now, and even then not sure who the coach is [sarcasm]. Tommy Lloyd, long time Gonzaga assistant and apparently the architect of the 'zags very impressive international player supply chain. Maybe he can replace the Nike money/player pipeline. I also learned that nearly everyone associated with the program panned the search and selection process. Shocking but not shocking it took Arizona over 4 years to get up the courage to fire Sean Miller.

Just a random thought, how long before the shoe companies find a loophole in the new NIL rules to start paying the top recruits over the table?

 

[BalloonsTheElephant]

I remember that game every time I see the name Nico Mannion. Wow. That game was only 2 years ago. Feels like a different era.

Honestly I had to look up who is coaching Arizona now, and even then not sure who the coach is [sarcasm]. Tommy Lloyd, long time Gonzaga assistant and apparently the architect of the 'zags very impressive international player supply chain. Maybe he can replace the Nike money/player pipeline. I also learned that nearly everyone associated with the program panned the search and selection process. Shocking but not shocking it took Arizona over 4 years to get up the courage to fire Sean Miller.

Just a random thought, how long before the shoe companies find a loophole in the new NIL rules to start paying the top recruits over the table?

What's stopping Nike offering Kofi $100k to do Nike ads, or offering money to the whole team to wear Nike (which they already do). U of I can't technically get involved, but I'm sure the contacts are there for calls to be made.

Also, I think of other gear, headphones, street clothes, all are marketing opportunities.

 

[BlueLeader]

Really need to get the UC game back, IMO. I’m sure it was hard after COVID, but this year was the ideal time.

I get what you meant. But as fair as this idk... I've been to every UC game in the past decade I think. When you can't fill the bottom bowl it's just not a good look. We need to make a statement in the tourney for a couple years and bring in a ranked team that's also going to draw their own fans too. I'm okay with this being a conference game, which it may have to be (like a Wisconsin for example).

 

[oldman]

Can a group of players form a partnership or a “professional” corporation to collectively market themselves and share the accounting and related business expenses? Is there anything to prevent an entire team from forming a partnership? Could a share of such a business be offered as a recruiting incentive?

 

[Dan]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1458872545315377154

 

[spillini]

Me, everytime one of these hype videos is posted:

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

I get what you meant. But as fair as this idk... I've been to every UC game in the past decade I think. When you can't fill the bottom bowl it's just not a good look. We need to make a statement in the tourney for a couple years and bring in a ranked team that's also going to draw their own fans too. I'm okay with this being a conference game, which it may have to be (like a Wisconsin for example).

Respectfully disagree that we aren’t back there yet. People are rightfully spooked by the tiny crowds in the depth of the Groce Era, but we were regularly pulling 15k or more for Bubble teams and 19k plus for top 25 teams.

If, for example, the Arizona game on a Saturday at 4:00 pm were at the UC this year, it’d draw a huge crowd. I’m not suggesting it should have been moved, by the way (I’m super excited to be going to that one in Champaign!), I’m just stating my opinion that the fans are ready to be back. We are in such a different place than when we let that game go; when was the last time student tickets sold out in hours and we drew 14k+ for a home opener vs. a cupcake??